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Weight loss and control during rehab

During after surgery rehabilitation and other forced inactivity periods, many people tend to gain a few pounds.
How can you keep your weight under control?
After amputation, your life gets some, often permanent, limitations. Fitness addicts can’t exercise, at least for some time. Smokers have to quit at once, which is a sudden change to metabolism. Most of household activities also cannot be done, leaving less ambient ways to burn calories.
On the other hand, post-surgery patients spend most of their time in bed. Supportive partners treat them with complimentary foods and take on most of the person’s duties.
Despite being less active, the patient usually eats as much as before the injury. And perhaps even more than before, because of stress.
Naturally, all this together with other factors leads to weight gain.
What should and should not do in situations like that?

First, do not do any sport. Besides being almost impossible, since most activities require healthy limbs and fingers, fitness may be extremely dangerous. Your body has yet to regain strength, balance and coordination. Any minor injury may lead to serious complications. Sport benefits are doubtful, while sport harm is obvious. After witnessing dozens of sport-related traumas, I can’t but agree with that.
Second, do not starve. Your healing body requires balanced nutrition. On the other hand, try to keep your calories intake below 2000 to lose weight.
To do that, you have to change your eating habits.
Change meat to fish. Fish is nutritious, but far more healthy.
Avoid processed food. That includes instant and semi-prepared foods as well as any type of fast-food.
Change fried to baked or grilled, That is also tasty, but much less in calories.
Seafood is your friend. Girdle is better than french fries, and boiled (or microwaved) shrimps are delicious and healthy substitute for chips.
Avoid soft drinks. Alcoholic beverages are not even discussed. Cognac has the highest calories-per-weight ratio, that’s why it was added to pilots reserve ratio: light but effecient is the moto for anything airplane related.
Avoid any type of bread. That is pure calories. You still need fiber, so get some porridge. That is healthy and keeps you satiated for several hours. No cereal though, they are concentrated calories too.
Avoid sweets, chocolate, pastry,etc. This is the hardest part, but you’ll manage. Eat more fruit and nuts. Get some stevia pills. It tastes nothing like real sugar, don’t be fooled by advertising, but you may put a tablet in your mouth when you want something sweet. Eventually you’ll trick your body into thinking that is sweet.
Another hard part is that night fridge siege. To help cope with that, get some microcellulose pills. They are fiber, and tend to expand inside the stomach, tricking the body to think it’s full. Fiber also regulates digestion and discharge.

There are also other tricks. Enjoy as much fresh air as you can. Drink cold water and try to keep rooms colder or put on lighter clothes: your body will have to burn calories to warm you up. Regular sex is also a good way to burn calories. Find more ways to keep fit for yourself. Be creative.

Don’t get me wrong: we are not trying to impose even more limitations. Of course you may get a piece of cake, some ice cream or a small packet of chips once in a while. Food is one of the main pleasures in our lives, and we are not going to promote austerity. But your body is more vulnerable now, and it’s time to care more about your health, and keeping normal weight is crucial for that. Overweight people suffer from many conditions slim people don’t even know about, especially heart and blood related, with much higher death rate. You have to change your habits if you don’t want to end like that.
Personally, I hate porridge. But by adding some raisins and other dried fruit, oat turned to be quite delicious and keeps hunger away for hours. I also could only drink sweetened tea since I was a kid. Now I can’t stand sugar in my tea. Can’t drink coffee without sugar yet, but by combining sugar with stevia sweetener, I was able to at least lower the amount of calories.
By no means my life is crippled by not gorging on junk food. On the contrary, by eating healthy I feel light and confident.
Be strong.